WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- NBC newsman Tim Russert left the MCI
Center in the first half to go listen to Vice President Gore's
concession speech. The Washington Wizards conceded to the
Philadelphia 76ers soon thereafter.

The Wizards put up very little fight in their eighth straight
loss, a 102-82 setback to the 76ers, who got 25 points from
Allen Iverson.

"We come in here playing them like they're the defending
champions, like they're the LA Lakers," Iverson said. "We have
to, because if you come in here looking at them any other way,
you leave with a loss. We never underestimate any team in the
league. They got four wins from somewhere."

While Gore was conceding the presidential election across town,
the Wizards came up with another uninspired effort and dropped
to 2-9 at home. Coach Leonard Hamilton called a timeout early
in the fourth quarter to berate his team for not playing
defense, but he was much too late.

Washington hung around for a while as Philadelphia got off to
slow starts to each half. But the Sixers took control with a
16-2 run midway through the third quarter and cruised to their
league-best 10th road win of the season.

Not even a pregame motivational talk from infomercial star
Anthony Robbins could help Michael Jordan's team, which shot
below 40 percent (35-of-88) from the field, attempted just 16
free throws and committed 23 turnovers as it fell to 2-15 since
a 2-3 start.

"To me, personally, first of all I'm embarrassed that we had to
go to it," Wizards guard Rod Strickland said. "And No. 2, I'm
embarrassed that it even got out. If that was for the team, it
shouldn't be out to the public. To me, that's embarrassing. For
it to be out there, that's ridiculous. That means somebody put
it out there, for what reason? If this was for the team, that
should be a team thing. That shouldn't be in the paper. Come
on. It was embarrassing going there, and it was embarrassing
for it to be out.

"No motivational speaker is going to help you. We've been doing
this for years. I mean, either you've got it or you don't. Ain't
no (bleeping) motivational speaker ... to me, it's
embarrassing."

Both teammates and opponents tended to agree with Strickland.

"We are professionals and if we can't get motivated to go out
and play the game that you love and do your job, then something
is wrong," Wizards reserve guard Chris Whitney said.

"They've got the greatest motivator probably in basketball
history with Michael Jordan," Iverson said. "It's just
important for those guys to get some chemistry and get a little
better team-oriented."

The Wizards' losing streak is their longest since a 13-game
slide from March 21-April 13, 1995.

Aaron McKie scored 16 points off the bench, Tyrone Hill added 14
and Theo Ratliff had 12, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots for
Philadelphia, which improved to 17-5, the NBA's best record.

"We had some guys do some really good things," Sixers coach
Larry Brown said. "Theo was tremendous, and we got a lift from
our bench. Allen played really well. He had five steals. Aaron
McKie came off the bench and settled us down."

Trailing 49-38 at halftime, the Wizards crept within 51-48 on a
free throw by Strickland before the Sixers began their run.
Vernon Maxwell had a pair of 3-pointers and Iverson converted a
three-point play before turning a block by Ratliff into a jumper
for a 67-50 lead with 3:50 left in the third quarter.

"Theo got doubled and he found Vernon," Brown said. "And Vernon
hit some big threes to get us going because I thought they came
out the second half with a lot more energy than we had."

"I thought that when they made an 8-0 run on us and we called a
timeout and at that point, it seems that we didn't come back
with the same fight that had gotten it cut down to three," said
Hamilton. "Even during that period, you could see us not
handling the fouls that were called on us."

Washington got no closer than 12 points thereafter and trailed
by as many as 22 as both teams emptied their benches in the
final period.

"We must have gave them 12 points as a direct result of our
turnovers and that's very difficult against a team of that
caliber and come back from it," Hamilton said.

Felipe Lopez scored 16 points and Jahidi White added 14 for the
Wizards, who actually led by eight points in the first quarter.

Strickland's jumper gave Washington a 10-2 lead as Philadelphia
missed eight of its first nine shots. But the Sixers quickly
regrouped to take a 27-25 lead after one period and surged ahead
in the second.

Consecutive baskets by Kukoc opened the period and McKie and
Hill added hoops to push the advantage to 35-25 with 9:57 left.
Two free throws by Iverson stretched it to 43-30 with 5:13 to
go.